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Now, just go ahead and practice controlling the kite when it is stalled at the edge. Get so you can control the height that it is stalled at with foot work. Walk it down to the ground, then walk it back into the stall. You will need to make a lot of small corrections in order to keep the kite under control and stalled.

This is one of the easier ways to develop the fine motor control that is needed to maintain a kite in a stall in other parts of the wind window.

Once you can maintain the kite in a stall and move it around at the edge where you want, then start working your way further into the window.

You will find that you will have to really move in on the kite in order to keep it stalled even for a short time if there is much wind at all.

That's alright.

Most stalls used to initiate tricks are of very short duration.

Once you have solid control of the kite in a basic stall, then it is time to move on to the snap stall.

This is where an experienced flier, or a decent training video will be of help.

You have enough to learn just stalling the kite at the edge for now. Worry about the other stuff after you have some basic control.

Oh I have no problem holding it on the edge of the window with the nose pointing into the wind. But if I go for nose pointing up with the base of the kite perpendicular to the ground I can maybe get that for a little bit of time but more likely I get a rocking left/right and need to pull it out or into too much wind and whoosh off it goes. Methinks this is a feet issue; I need to be moving - I will be practicing this on the beach next week until I can get that hopefully mastered.

For years I watched Dodd's Flight School IV and didn't get the connection between stalling the kite and tricking it. One day, I finally got an axel. (But it was years but I didn't care because I just enjoyed flying.) I've been watching Tim Benson's Trick or Treat video and he does a great split screen that shows the tricks and his body movements. If you don't mind paying for shipping from the UK I'd say it's worth it. Check out his Benson Kites site for more details.

For years I watched Dodd's Flight School IV and didn't get the connection between stalling the kite and tricking it. One day, I finally got an axel. (But it was years but I didn't care because I just enjoyed flying.) I've been watching Tim Benson's Trick or Treat video and he does a great split screen that shows the tricks and his body movements. If you don't mind paying for shipping from the UK I'd say it's worth it. Check out his Benson Kites site for more details.

Cool, thanks for that recommendation. As you say, seeing a kite doing great things in the sky is nice but seeing those hand movements at the same time that the kite is responding is great...especially if slowed down (which you can do by default depending on your media player).

I am just curious how people found their kite flying skills developed over time.

For myself, it seems I have stalled - and unfortunately, not that isn't with respect to my ability to stall a kite. I got up the curve quick on take offs and reasonable landings (no, not snap stalls). I then one day just instantly got loops on an ultra fast micron - that came courtesy of learning it on a much slower powerkite/foil the day before. Now those seem just routine/easy.

Unfortunately, thats where things stalled (and no, not the kite). I am watching videos of fades and stalls and other more complex tricks and I can see what is supposed to be going on but I will be damned if I can get a kite to do it. Stalls, nah. Have a kite 'fall' backwards and float in a fade, not possible. 540s and the like, come on now, you are joking.

So what I am trying to figure is what should I be focusing on to get to the next level. I gather stalls? I have been trying but where they fall down for me is rocking when I initiate and then to recover requires a mass of air to make for a forceful exit short of a crash. I also tend to not get great wind so trying stuff on a Prism 4d is a bit too delicate (it will pull apart in my experience) and my micron is too fast; which is why I am working on getting something like an Ocius UL.

So, what did you all experience as you became better pilots? Was there a magical spot where stalls and the like became simple like loops did for me? Any tips to make this process faster?

Regards,

Scott

What you want to do is to try and fly your kite in the lightest of wind, where it will barely fly. Then the kite will want to stall all the time and you'll develop more control.

A good way to practice is to launch your kite in light wind and go up to say, 10 feet and then walk the kite back down and try to keep it nice and level. Try to land so both wing tips to touch at the same time. Go up higher and higher and see how well you can back it down to a landing. This takes tons of finesse, especially in turbulent air, so don't feel bad if you fail a lot in the beginning. I still practice this move even though I've got a bazillion hours experience and no problem stalling a kite.

You need a big kite...at least 90in. in width for learning tricks since it flies slower. Get a GOOD trick kite to learn trick. It will speed up the process and make tricking a kite less painful.

I have an 86 inch Acrobatx standard and will shortly have an 84 inch Ocius UL so I am pretty close on this measure. I tried to do some stalls today but there simply wasn't enough wind for the 4d; it was indoor kite flying wind on 20 foot lines and thats a whole different skill set.

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